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MAKE:chevyMODEL:savanaYEAR:2011MILES:105000ENGINE:not sureDESCRIBE ISSUE.... When van hit 45 mph it starts to shake very bad until it gets above 55mph, after 55 it smooths back out. Any ideas? Thanks Alot!

Did this just come on suddenly/recently? Check the tires for any kind of bulges or "bubbles". Check them carefully, it may not be real obvious. You may need to jack up each front wheel, to turn it while holding a pointer near suspicious areas. I'm not talking about dial-indicator accuracy, just something like the tip of a pencil or screwdriver held by hand.

While you are down there checking tires, take a peek at the suspension/steering components, see if any look obviously loose or damaged.

Lifted? Modified? Suggest you gOOgle "Death Wobble." Hopefully your problem is NOT that. I've experienced it and it's no fun. Old Ford van. Company truck so I didn't have to try to fix it. Cruising along, cross a railroad track. Didn't have to be a rough one. Wheel would shimmy till I was about to a stop.

I agree with above, most likely a bad tire or an out of balance tire. You could also check the drive shaft and if this thing is 4wd maybe the cv axles in the front too. I would jack up the rear axle and put it in neutral and spin the wheels. Maybe even pit it in drive at idle and watch the tires spin. Be careful and stay off the highway until you figure it out. (And fix it.)

Normally, a steering wheel will not shake crazy, to the point of barely able to hold on to it, if a wheel or two is out of balance. This sounds more like a bad steering suspension part.

45-55mph is a floating point where a loose steering part will start to shimmy so bad, but it also the magic point for wheel balance problems to appear. So unless a huge 3-4ounce wheel weight popped off, and still then, the steering won't shake to that point unless this was an exaggeration. If a tire were separating itself, or a rim was bent that bad,that would be almost apparent at low speed and you would see your steering go back and forth whilst just rolling.

My advice, get the wheels balanced, that way you kill many birds with one stone. The tire guy can see the out of roundness on the tire balancer. Eliminate crooked rim, bad tire, and out of balance. Also, that chokes out bad torque on wheel lug nuts.

After the tires and rims are known to be true and balanced and properly torqued, have a tech at the tire shop check for slop in the steering and suspension. This is probably the most cost effective way to check this out. Most shops will charge on average of 10$ per wheel for balancing, so that is only 20$ for piece of mind in the front. The suspension check may be free, depends on the shop. They do want your business, so most times, checking the slop is beneficial to the shop and they do that for free to get the job.

It's fixed! Took it to a garage, they put 4 new tires, new front shocks, rides like a dream. It really was shaking so bad it was hard to hold the steering wheel. Just like those "death wobble" videos on you tube. Thanks again for all the help!